The State of the Nation

I get a bit nauseous watching the political reports these days. I was reading a book that contained a quote from a Nobel Prize winner — a Russian that came to our country and even became our Poet Laurette — that put it in some perspective.

‘Life – the way it really is – is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse.’ — Joseph Brodsky

I remember hoping our former Governor would run two elections back. Mitch Daniels was an advisor to Regan and others. He had a solid Washington background. He made a mark in business. He was an outstanding governor and garnered consensus more than you’d expect for various elements. He considered running and talked it over with his family. End of consideration.

The sad fact is that an intelligent man see little reason to take the abuse of being the candidate. It isn’t hard to see why as the political season unfolds. Of course, that contributes to even more flawed candidate. That results in even more abuses.

Possibly the Internet has led us to such biased reporting. The Internet is famous for slanting the news and that makes the journalist compete in a tasteless manner. Sound bites aren’t news. Opinion pieces should be properly labeled. And the more lurid isn’t the better.

So here were are with Mr. Brodsky’s bit of enlightenment. And, I wonder if there is even a road back to something closer to good and bad we had in the past. That’s the real bummer.

It could have been the Presidential but I looked at things like the Senate race in an adjoining state where the two candidates would have to improve to be called hacks. So, I left it as a general remark.